Wisconsin Coach Points Finger At Miami Coaches For Tyler Van Dyke's Shortcomings

At the Big 10 media day, Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell answered many questions about former University of Miami quarterback Tyler Van Dyke. He blamed the Miami coaches for the amount of adversity that he faced as a Hurricane.

Jul 23, 2024; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Wisconsin Badgers head coach Luke Fickell speaks to the media during the Big 10 football media day at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Robert Goddin-USA TODAY Sports / Robert Goddin-USA TODAY Sports

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - Make no mistake about it. Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell is no fan of the University of Miami or its coaching staff. Fickell blames the coaching regimes of Manny Diaz and Mario Cristobal for the deterioration of Tyler Van Dyke's career as a Hurricane. The quarterback will get the keys to the Badger offense and will run his second Power 4 team in as many years.

Fickell said Miami coaches held him back and prevented him from being the quarterback that he is capable of being.

"I think the greatest thing about Tyler is his ability to say, I need to refocus. I understand what his goals were individually," Fickell said. "He knew that there were things that he needed to continue to grow to do, and he had experienced an incredible amount of adversity in his three years of starting down at Miami."

He also said having three offensive coordinators in three years is no way to go through your collegiate years. Van Dyke started with Dan Enos, then went to Rhett Lashlee and finally Shannon Dawson.

"For me, if you said, What's the greatest thing that you liked when you were identifying Tyler Van Dyke, I would say all the adversity that he had been through," Fickell said. "The ability for him to handle three different coordinators, the ability for him to go from the East Coast down to South Florida, win a starting position, have the ups and the downs, and be able to continue to stand tall and have the confidence to continue to play and to play at the level which he expects to play."

Fickell said that Van Dyke came into Wisconsin and fought for everything that he has earned and deserves to be the starter.

"He's got a humility behind himself. When he walked in the door that he was willing and understood that he was going to have to earn everything," Fickell said. "He understood that it was going to be a battle. There weren't going to be keys that were just handed to him."

Scott Salomon is a contributor to Miami Hurricanes On SI. He can be reached at sas@southfloridamedianetwork.com.

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